Belgium look to continue their dominance. Will Japan be able to stop The Red Devils?

Romelu Lukaku is having a purple patch and will be the key man up front for Belgium

Although the favourites in the FIFA World Cup 2018 so far have performed well in patches, nobody has been quite as consistent as Belgium. A lot was expected from this new crop of players and they have delivered just that, bringing them to now face Japan in the Round of 16 fixture at the Rostov Arena tonight. Although Belgium had a fairly easy group with Tunisia, Panama and England, their performance spoke volumes about how good they actually are. Japan, on the other hand, had an incredible match against Colombia and did just about enough against Senegal to ensure qualification. Let’s take a look at how the two teams line up before we make our FIFA World Cup 2018 Round of 16 match predictions:

FIFA World Cup 2018 Round of 16 match predictions: Belgium vs Japan

Like Croatia, Belgium is amongst the three teams in the Group stage to have a perfect record. Scoring nine goals in their three wins, Belgium have been simply unforgiving, beating minnows Tunisia and Panama 5-2 and 3-0 respectively. Belgium’s star players have really lived up to their hype and have been setting the stage on fire.

With Romelu Lukaku creating all sorts of trouble for the defense, Kevin De Bruyne cutting through in attack and Hazard being a headache, coach Roberto Martinez will be lucky to have all his players gel so well while going forward. Even at the back, Vertonghen, Alderweireld, and Courtois himself have been rock solid and looks very dependable against counter attacks.

Japan, on the other hand, were on the good side of what was an explosive start to their opener against Colombia. With both teams were playing end-to-end football in the beginning, Japan were lucky to get a penalty after Carlos Sanchez handed the ball within the first four minutes. The East Asian nation appeared resilient enough to hold on as they snatched an unexpected victory against Colombia.

In the following game against Senegal, they came back twice to sneak a draw which almost ensured them qualification. Though they lost against Poland in the final group game, Senegal losing to Colombia meant that Japan would now face Belgium in the FIFA World Cup Round of 16. Let’s now take a look at the full FIFA World Cup 2018 Round of 16 match predictions:

FIFA World Cup 2018 match predictions: Belgium vs Japan

There should be no doubt that Belgium are firm favourites for tonight’s match. Roberto Martinez’s men will need to believe in themselves to ensure that they aren’t on the receiving end of another upset in the World Cup. Even popular bookmakers Bet365 consider Belgium as favourites in this fixture with odds of 2:5 against Japan’s odds of 8:1.